Amphetamine (C9H13N) is a weak base with a pKb of 4.2.

Question

Calculate the pH of a solution containing an amphetamine concentration of 215 mg/L.

I calculated the molarity as 1.58*10^-3 and the Ka as 1.58*10^-10. I did ICE and i got the pH as 6.3, but it was wrong. Do you know what I did wrong?

Answer 1

I think you treated amphetamine as a salt. Its a base. pKa of 4.2 makes Kb = 6.3 x 10^-5. If we represent amphetamine as RN, then
RN + HOH ==> RNH^+ + OH^-

Kb = (RNH^+)(OH^-)/(RN)
6.3 x 10^-5 = (x)(x)/1/59 x 10^-3
solve for x which is (OH^-), convert to pOH, then to pH. I get something like 10.5 but that's a quickie. Check it out.

Answer 2

dont make sense

Answer 3

and this is middle and high school chem, not college.